Latest Trends Headlines
All the headlines from our Trends Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Zurich Targets Emerging Public Companies With Management Liability
Mar 26 2010 // Zurich’s Specialties’ Management Solutions Group has created a new practice aimed at offering management liability insurance to public emerging growth companies with revenues under $500 million. The new...
Who’s Worth What in the Independent Agency System? Find Out … Join IJ’s Survey
Mar 23 2010 // Insurance Journal is polling insurance agents and brokers nationwide in its annual search to find out who’s worth what in the independent agency system. Don’t miss out on your chance to participate. The 2010...
Survey: Michigan Firms Plan to Hike Wages Over Next 6 Months
Mar 22 2010 // While a growing number of Michigan’s small- to mid-size businesses are not satisfied with the economy, a recent survey indicates that more businesses plan to increase wages over the next six months. In the...
8 New Markets in Response to Current Trends
Mar 22 2010 // Insurance Companies Generate New Programs to Bring in Additional Premium The last few years of the soft market have forced many carriers and agencies to get creative when it comes to bringing in additional premium. This...
Survey Ranks California’s Lawsuit Climate Among Worst in the Nation
Mar 22 2010 // A new national survey finds that California’s lawsuit climate is among the worst in the country and on par with states including Alabama, Louisiana, and West Virginia. Among local jurisdictions, Los Angeles’...
P/C Industry Operating Profits Up Markedly in 2009: Fitch
Mar 18 2010 // Operating profits improved substantially during 2009 across the U.S. property/ casualty insurance industry, with most market participants reporting double-digit operating returns on capital, according to Fitch Ratings in a...
S&P Revises Hartford’s Outlook to Negative; Debt/Hybrids Assigned Ratings
Mar 17 2010 // Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has assigned its ‘BBB’ issue rating to Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.’s (HIG) proposed $1.1 billion senior debt offering. S&P assigned a...
Swiss Re ‘sigma’ Study: Insured 2009 Disaster Losses Cost $26 Billion
Mar 16 2010 // Swiss Re’s annual sigma study has calculated that “natural catastrophes cost insurers $22 billion in 2009, while man-made disasters cost an additional $4 billion. Insured losses were highest in North America,...
Report: Calif. Workers’ Comp Insurance Market Still Needs Improvement
Mar 16 2010 // California workers’ compensation claims and disability costs have dropped significantly since the state’s workers’ compensation system was overhauled in 2003 and 2004. Yet “many of the same...
Zurich Considering New China Life Fundraising; Future P/C Growth
Mar 16 2010 // Zurich Financial Services is actively talking with sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp and major steelmaker Baosteel on fundraising plans for their venture New China Life Insurance, a Zurich Financial executive...
Calif. Low Cost Auto Insurance Program Participation Up 30%
Mar 15 2010 // California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner announced that in February, the California Low Cost Auto Insurance Program (CLCA) saw the highest number of enrollees in any one month during the past three years. The CLCA...
Catlin Arctic Survey 2010 Explorers Begin Sea Ice Mission
Mar 15 2010 // A team of veteran polar explorers on Sunday began a 500-kilometer [312 mile] trek across the floating sea ice of the Arctic Ocean as part of the Catlin Arctic Survey 2010, an international scientific mission to learn how...
Young Agents Survey: Why Agents Stand By Their Career Choice
Mar 15 2010 // Most enter the insurance business by accident but for young independent insurance agents, the decision to stick with insurance as a permanent career is a matter of choice. A healthy 84 percent of young insurance agents say...
Who’s Worth What in the Independent Agency System? Join IJ’s Survey
Mar 12 2010 // Once again, Insurance Journal is polling insurance agents and brokers nationwide in its annual search to find out who’s worth what in the independent agency system. The 2010 Agency Salary Survey results will be...
Survey: Michigan Firms Plan to Hike Wages Over Next 6 Months
Mar 12 2010 // While a growing number of Michigan’s small- to mid-size businesses are not satisfied with the economy, a recent survey indicates that more businesses plan to increase wages over the next six months. In the...
Hiscox Underwriting Chief on 2010 Outlook
Mar 11 2010 // London-based specialty insurer Hiscox, which launched a significantly expanded U.S. presence in 2006, saw gross profits reach record levels ($481 million) in 2009. In this exclusive interview with Insurance Journal, Hiscox...
Federal Study of Fatal 2007 South Carolina Sofa Store Fire Not Ready
Mar 11 2010 // A complex federal study of a fire that killed nine South Carolina firefighters, already delayed by months, is still months from completion, authorities said. The National Institute of Standards and Technology in...
Fitch Holds Conference on China’s Life, Non-Life Insurance Sectors
Mar 11 2010 // Fitch Ratings hosted a teleconference today, March 11 on the performance of China’s life and non-life insurance sectors. A replay of the conference is expected to be posted soon on the rating agency’s web site...
Report: Reno Has Good Chance of Big Quake by 2060
Mar 10 2010 // The chance of a significant earthquake rocking the Reno-Sparks, Nev., area over the next half century is on the rise, with a 67 percent likelihood a magnitude 6.0 will strike within 31 miles by 2060, a new report...
Marsh & McLennan Puts Kroll Consulting Up for Sale for $1.3 Billion
Mar 9 2010 // Marsh & McLennan Cos Inc., the No 2. global insurance broker, has put up its security consulting business Kroll up for sale for $1.3 billion and received offers from several major private equity firms in the first...
